Via ShutterstockThe California Victim Compensation Board is busy tracking down as many remaining victims of forced and involuntary sterilization as possible, going back to 1979, when state eugenics laws were taken off the books.
Environmentalist Heidi Sanborn.(Photo: Screen capture via YouTube, from California insider)California recently approved three sweeping environmental laws: SB 54, SB 343, and AB 1201. Hopefully, this game-changing legislation will shape national policy about recycling, composting, plastic pollution, and human health. We have many people to thank for the recent measures to reduce plastic pollution and increase plastic recycling, but we citizens rarely know who. Heidi Sanborn is one of those people.
Illustratikon of COVID impact on California. (Photo: Alexander Lukatskiy, Shutterstock)Timing can speak volumes. Consider this: As the Omicron variant of the coronavirus increases the infection rate, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cut COVID-19 quarantine and isolation times from 10 to five days on Dec. 27.
A research scientist examines a capsule with a DNA double helix. (Photo: Dan Race, via Shutterstock)One year ago this month, a $5.5 billion wave washed over California’s ambitious stem cell agency and left it refreshed and renewed for another decade or so of searching for “miraculous” treatments for a host of deadly, incurable afflictions. It is now on a pace to hand out $38,000 an hour, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. That would amount to $519 million in awards between this time last year and the end of the agency’s current fiscal year in June.
The forests of Humboldt County in northern California. (Photo: Ethan Daniels, via Shutterstock)OPINION: Right now, families and communities are paying the price of having a president who refuses to believe in science and the advice of experts and has managed to prioritize the well-being of polluters and corporations over public health. This is all completely unprecedented.
Demonstrators outside the governor's office in the state Capitol protesting vaccination legislation. (Photo: Rich Pedroncelli/AP)Amid shouting and pounding on doors by hundreds of vaccination opponents, Gov. Gavin Newsom late Monday signed two bills designed to limit medical exemptions for school vaccinations. Hundreds of vaccination opponents delayed state Senate action on the bills for two hours by shouting from the gallery and displaying an upside-down American flag.
A chalkboard in a vintage charter school.(Photo: Greg and Jan Ritchie, via Shutterstock)OPINION: With Election Day less than a week away, voters have started casting ballots in the race for Superintendent of Public Instruction between Assemblymember Tony Thurmond and former Partnership for Los Angeles Schools CEO Marshall Tuck. Pundits are framing the race as a face-off between teachers’ unions and education reformers – no surprise, since one of the race’s key debates has been about whether or not charter schools are good for public education.
A natural gas plant in Oxnard. (Photo: Henrik Lehnerer)OPINION: The state Legislature is currently considering a two-part proposal to extend the California greenhouse gas cap-and-trade program and target local air pollution reductions across California. As a member of the California Air Resources Board’s Environmental Justice Advisory Committee (EJAC), a resident of the Inland Empire, and a strong advocate for the pollution reductions that our families need and deserve, I support Eduardo Garcia and his leadership in helping pass AB 398 and AB 617.
Illustration: Quentin Lueninghoener, FairWarningFairWarning: The formula has turned the firm, now named Exponent, Inc., into a publicly traded giant in litigation defense and regulatory science. It’s a go-to destination for major industries with liability problems – even as it is derided by critics as a hired gun whose findings are for sale.
Mayor Kevin Faulconer at a political rally in San Diego. (Photo: AP/Lenny Ignelzi)California Republicans don’t have a deep statewide bench. But they may have a rising star in San Diego — Mayor Kevin Faulconer. “He would be a very compelling candidate for statewide office if he ever chose to run,” said state GOP Chairman Jim Brulte, who led Republicans in both houses of the Legislature. Faulconer, who came to power in the wake of the scandal-plagued administration of Democrat Bob Filner, has ruled out running for governor in 2018.